Don’t you hate getting the same catalogs over and over again?  Maybe the marketers think they are deceiving me into thinking they are different, but many of them contain the same stuff with slight twists on the presentation.  You’d think the expenses associated with redundant offers would force marketers to remove unnecessary costs by sending less of the same stuff.  You’d think that with the information they have on their own catalogs and my shopping preferences they would be more efficient.  Some are starting to get the message from customers.  Some are seeing the financial light.  Some are beginning to develop more efficient and effective marketing campaigns.

Don’t you hate getting inundated with emails from the same company?  Maybe the marketers think they can send as many emails as logistically possible because there is no downside.  “There is no cost”, they say.  We can always generate more sales by sending more emails, so why control the frequency or cadence of emails?  Well, as a consumer I know there is a downside, a risk, a cost … in fact, there are several.  For one, you are increasing my probability of opting out of all your emails!  That certainly represents an opportunity cost.  For another, if I am interested in purchasing something from you I can simply wait for the most attractive offer amongst your incentive-laden emails.  You are giving away profit with these discounts or coupons.  There are other less tangible reasons to better control your email contact strategy, including maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty.  As with the print channel, you’d think the savvy marketer would leverage my email history to guide my future email frequency and cadence.  The capability is there for them today, only the recognition of its value is missing.

Every direct marketer has a combination of print and email marketing efforts these days, so the over-promotion problem gets worse.  Smart marketing coordinates marketing contact strategies between channels, as well across the multiple efforts over time.  Some customers will get a greater mix of print than others because that is generating the purchases; whereas other customers are engaged with emails and consequently do not need as much print advertising. 

The flood of marketing contacts should instead be a regulated, more efficient and effective stream. The solution to either channel is to design a marketing contact strategy specifically for me which fits my shopping preferences to the potential marketing events.  I’ve helped a handful of companies with the over-promotion problem, but certainly not enough.

The efficiency and effectiveness of marketing efforts benefits the marketer and the consumer, so you’d think companies would jump at the chance, right?  Right.  Maybe then you can explain the weekly print and daily email efforts I get. 

Clario is sponsoring a webinar about Email Optimization on November 30, 2011 from 2:00-3:00 PM CST. Click here to register.

About Randy Erdahl
Randy is an analytic marketing champion and is Clario’s Executive Vice President, Optimization Solutions and co-founder. As the executive leader of optimization solutions, he provides vision and direction for Clario Stream Solution development, as well technical leadership to sales, marketing and direct client interaction.